Make sure your children see you reading for pleasure. Encourage them to read with you. Show them that reading
is important.

Create a home library with books for the whole family.

Provide plenty of opportunities for them to practice writing (invented spelling).

Discuss what was read.

(See Research Based Practices: Dialogic Reading)

Purchase books for your children.

Take trips to the bookstore and the library regularly.

Sources: Burns,M.S., et al. (2004) Starting Out Right: A Guide to Promoting Children's Reading Success.
National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington: DC. Delpit, L. (1995). Other People's Children: Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom. The New Press, New York: NY. Also see comments in her article about dialects.